Faculty coerced
Wed, Sep27, 2006 - Category: College
Two AMC faculty were given a choice - sign a letter
retracting their report to federal investigators
(i.e. lie) or be kicked off the payroll.
(edited-updated 9/29/06)
AMC faculty told to retract testimony as a condition of employment.
In August 2006, two Ave Maria College (Michigan) professors on existing contracts with the institution were told by AMC President Dan Guernsey that they would each need to sign the following letter as a condition to maintain their paychecks from AMC. Back in 2004, these professors made a report to the Inspector General's arm of the federal Department of Education concerning, among other things, Ave Maria administration's illegal use of AMC financial aid to fund AMU students; the DoE later forced Ave Maria to pay back nearly a quarter-million dollars to the DoE. The faculty state that they were given to understand by AMC President Guernsey that the document had been authored by AMU President Nick Healy.
the entire letter, verbatim:
***********************
DRAFT
Mr. Nicholas J. Healy, Jr.
President
Ave Maria University
1025 Commons Circle
Naples, FL 34119
Dear Mr. Healy,
In consideration of your forgoing any claim for libel or slander, we hereby:
1. Retract the allegations made against you in the letter of May 11, 2004 addressed to the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Education, and
2. Acknowledge that we have no evidence of fraud or other wrongdoing on your part with respect to Federal Financial Aid awarded to students of Ave Maria College or Ave Maria University.
Please sign the attached copy of this letter to confirm that you are waiving all claims against us with respect to the subject letter to the Inspector General's Office.
Very truly yours,
[faculty signature here]
*************************
The professors refused to sign the letter and, subsequently, left AMC weeks later in August 2006. After having consulted several lawyers, who assured the faculty of the licitness of their original contracts, the faculty members categorically refused to sign President Healy's retraction request. For their intransigence, AMC President
Guernsey, acting on behalf of his superiors, outlined some "possible outcomes" that the faculty took as threats, such as refusing to allow them renew the lease on the AMC-owned house in which they had lived for the previous five years. Ultimately, one of the professors secured temporary employment in another state; the other is still unemployed (try finding an academic position in August!).
Questions: If the professors had signed this letter, wouldn't the federal Department of Education have been able to prosecute the professors for false reporting? Why is the President of Florida's Ave Maria University, a wholly separate institution from Ave Maria College (Michigan), drafting letters for College employees to sign, particularly when said employees are already on a valid contract, and when the content of the letter exempts only Mr. Healy, the alleged source of the letter? Was President Healy threatening to sue these employees for libel/slander for their testimony to the Inspector General (i.e. "In consideration of your [Healy's] forgoing any claim for libel or slander...")?
AMC faculty told to retract testimony as a condition of employment.
In August 2006, two Ave Maria College (Michigan) professors on existing contracts with the institution were told by AMC President Dan Guernsey that they would each need to sign the following letter as a condition to maintain their paychecks from AMC. Back in 2004, these professors made a report to the Inspector General's arm of the federal Department of Education concerning, among other things, Ave Maria administration's illegal use of AMC financial aid to fund AMU students; the DoE later forced Ave Maria to pay back nearly a quarter-million dollars to the DoE. The faculty state that they were given to understand by AMC President Guernsey that the document had been authored by AMU President Nick Healy.
the entire letter, verbatim:
***********************
DRAFT
Mr. Nicholas J. Healy, Jr.
President
Ave Maria University
1025 Commons Circle
Naples, FL 34119
Dear Mr. Healy,
In consideration of your forgoing any claim for libel or slander, we hereby:
1. Retract the allegations made against you in the letter of May 11, 2004 addressed to the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Education, and
2. Acknowledge that we have no evidence of fraud or other wrongdoing on your part with respect to Federal Financial Aid awarded to students of Ave Maria College or Ave Maria University.
Please sign the attached copy of this letter to confirm that you are waiving all claims against us with respect to the subject letter to the Inspector General's Office.
Very truly yours,
[faculty signature here]
*************************
The professors refused to sign the letter and, subsequently, left AMC weeks later in August 2006. After having consulted several lawyers, who assured the faculty of the licitness of their original contracts, the faculty members categorically refused to sign President Healy's retraction request. For their intransigence, AMC President
Guernsey, acting on behalf of his superiors, outlined some "possible outcomes" that the faculty took as threats, such as refusing to allow them renew the lease on the AMC-owned house in which they had lived for the previous five years. Ultimately, one of the professors secured temporary employment in another state; the other is still unemployed (try finding an academic position in August!).
Questions: If the professors had signed this letter, wouldn't the federal Department of Education have been able to prosecute the professors for false reporting? Why is the President of Florida's Ave Maria University, a wholly separate institution from Ave Maria College (Michigan), drafting letters for College employees to sign, particularly when said employees are already on a valid contract, and when the content of the letter exempts only Mr. Healy, the alleged source of the letter? Was President Healy threatening to sue these employees for libel/slander for their testimony to the Inspector General (i.e. "In consideration of your [Healy's] forgoing any claim for libel or slander...")?